A Brooklyn man on Wednesday was sentenced to six months in prison for smuggling Egyptian antiquities into the United States through John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to prosecutors.
Ashraf Omar Eldarir, 52, brought in about 600 artifacts, according to Joseph Nocella, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Eldarir previously pleaded guilty in February to four counts of smuggling.
On four occasions between April 2019 and January 22, 2020, Eldarir smuggled ancient Egyptian artifacts, according to the indictment and other court filings. Each time, Eldarir used fake provenances to sell those artifacts at U.S.-based auction houses. (Provenances are documents reflecting the history of ownership and custody of artifacts, which are used to establish that the artifacts are genuine and that they were not illegally excavated or stolen.)
On January 22, 2020, Eldarir, arrived at JFK Airport from Egypt and falsely declared to Customs and Border Protection that he was carrying goods valued at only $300. When CBP officers opened Eldarir’s three checked suitcases, they found 590 valuable artifacts that were bubble and foam-wrapped. When the wrapping was opened, loose sand and dirt spilled out of the packaging, indicating that the artifacts had been recently excavated.
Among the items recovered by law enforcement officers were gold amulets from a funerary set and wooden tomb model figures with linen garments dating to approximately 1900 BCE. Eldarir was also in possession of a kit of materials used to fabricate documentation for the stolen items.
Further investigation following Eldarir’s arrest at JFK Airport led to the recovery of additional illegally imported artifacts that have since been forfeited, along with the 590 artifacts seized at the time of Eldarir’s arrest.
“The defendant looted Egypt’s cultural treasures and lied to U.S. Customs about them as part of a web of deception he spun to illegally fill his pockets with cash,” Nocella said in a statement. “Those who steal cultural treasures of other countries and smuggle them into the United States should know that they will be held accountable for their crimes."
